Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
♪ Here in this place, new light is streaming ♪
♪ Now is the darkness vanished away ♪
♪ See, in this space, our fears and our dreamings ♪
♪ Brought here to you ♪
♪ In the light of this day ♪
♪ Gather us in, the lost and forsaken ♪
♪ Gather us in ♪
♪ The blind and the lame ♪
♪ Call to us now and we shall awaken ♪
♪ We shall arise at the sound of our name ♪
♪ We are the young, our lives are a mystery ♪
♪ We are the old who yearn for your face ♪
♪ We have been sung throughout all of history ♪
♪ Called to be light ♪
♪ To the whole human race ♪
♪ Gather us in, the rich and the haughty ♪
♪ Gather us in, the proud and the strong ♪
♪ Give us a heart so meek and so lowly ♪
♪ Give us the courage to enter the song ♪
♪
>> In the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. >> Both: Amen.
>> The grace of our lord Jesus Christ and the love of
God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
>> And with your spirit. >> Brothers and sisters, let us
call to mind our sins so as to prepare ourselves to celebrate
the sacred mysteries. Oh, Jesus, you raise us
to new life. Lord have mercy.
>> Both: Lord have mercy. >> Lord Jesus, you forgive us
our sins, Christ have mercy. >> Christ have mercy.
>> Lord Jesus, you feed us with your body and blood.
Lord have mercy. >> Lord have mercy.
>> May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and
bring us to everlasting life. >> Both: Amen.
>> Let us praise God together. >> All: Glory to God in the
highest, and on Earth, peace to people of good will.
We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you.
We give you thanks for your great glory.
Lord God, heavenly king, O God, Almighty Father,
Lord Jesus Christ, only begotten son, Lord God, Lamb of God,
son of the father, you take away the sins of the
world, have mercy on us.
You take away the sins of the world,
receive our prayer. You are seated at the right hand
of the Father, have mercy on us,
for you alone are the holy one, you alone are the lord,
you alone are the most high Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father, amen.
Let us pray. O God, from whom all good
things come, grant that we, who call on you in our need may
at your prompting, discern what is right and by your guidance,
do it. Through our lord Jesus
Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of
the Holy Spirit, one god, forever and ever.
>> Both: Amen. >> Let's now listen to the word
of God as it is proclaimed to us.
>> A reading from the Book of Genesis.
"After the woman and the man had eaten from the tree,
they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at
the time of the evening breeze. And the man and his wife
hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the
man and said to him, 'Where are you?'
He said, 'I heard the sound of you in the garden and
I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.'
God said, 'Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you
not to eat?' The man said, 'The woman
whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from
the tree and I ate.' Then the Lord God said to
the woman, 'What is it that you have done?'
The woman said, 'The serpent tricked me
and I ate.' The Lord God said to the
serpent, 'Because you have done this, cursed are you
among all animals and among all wild creatures.
Upon your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life. I will put enmity between
you and the woman and between your offspring and hers.
He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.'"
The word of the Lord. >> Woman: Thanks be to God.
(Light piano music) >> Singer: Please sing with us.
♪
♪ With the Lord, there is steadfast love ♪
♪ And great power to redeem ♪
♪
♪ With the Lord, there is steadfast love ♪
♪ And great power to redeem ♪
♪
♪ Out of the depths I cry to you ♪
♪ O Lord ♪
♪ Lord, hear my voice ♪
♪ Let your ears be attentive ♪
♪ To the voice of my supplications ♪
♪
♪ With the Lord, there is steadfast love ♪
♪ And great power to redeem ♪
♪ If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities ♪
♪ Lord, who could stand? ♪
♪ But there is forgiveness with you ♪
♪ So that you may be revered ♪
♪
♪ With the Lord, there is steadfast love ♪
♪ And great power to redeem ♪
(Music stops)
>> A reading from the second letter of Saint Paul
to the Corinthians. "Brothers and sisters,
just as we have the same spirit of faith, it is in
accordance with scripture, I believe, and so I spoke,
We also believe and so we speak because we know
that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us
also with Jesus and will bring us, with you,
into his presence. Yes, everything is for
your sake, so that grace, as it extends
to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving
to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart.
Even though our outer shell is wasting away, our inner self
is being renewed day by day, for this slight, momentary
affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory
beyond all measure because we look not at what can be seen
but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen
is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed,
we have a building from God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens." The word of the Lord.
>> Men: Thanks be to God. ♪ Hallelujah ♪
♪ Speak, Lord ♪ ♪ We are listening ♪
>> The Lord be with you. >> And with your spirits.
>> A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark.
>> Glory to you, O Lord. >> "Jesus went home
and the crowd came together again, so that they could not
even eat. When his family heard it,
they went out to restrain him, for people were saying,
'He has gone out of his mind'. And the scribes who came down
from Jerusalem said 'He has Beelzebub, and by the ruler of
the demons he casts out demons.' And Jesus called them to him,
and spoke with them in parables, 'How can Satan cast out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom
cannot stand. And if a house is divided
against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand but his end has come for no one can enter
a strong man's house and plunder his property without
first tying up the strong man, then indeed the house can
be plundered. Truly, I tell you, people will
be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies
they utter, but whoever blasphemes against
the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty
of an eternal sin. For they had said, 'He has
an unclean spirit.' Then his mother and his
brothers came and standing outside, they sent for him
and called him. The crowd was sitting around
him and they said to him, 'Your mother and your brothers
and sisters are outside asking for you."
And Jesus replied, 'Who are my mother and my brothers?'
And looking at those who sat around him, he said,
'Here are my mother and my brothers.
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister
and mother.'" The Gospel of the Lord.
>> All: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
>> As I read this Sunday's Gospel, I couldn't help
but notice something I thought was very strange.
In the Gospel, we see people who witnessed Jesus having authority
over the unclean spirits and the ability to heal
the sick. The same crowd then followed him
all the way to his home at supper time and they see more
people being cured of sickness and set free from demonic
possession and oppression. "Amen, hallelujah" should
have been the response. Instead, after having witnessed
miracles at work, people accused Jesus of being
out of his mind. Why the accusation and the
insult? Why couldn't they just be
grateful and say thank you and go home?
Why were they so ungrateful and rude?
Have you called anyone crazy or have you ever been called
crazy? When do people call someone
or something crazy? When someone's ideas or
behaviours do not fit neatly into an established
and conventional norm. When people think
outside of the box, and do something different,
they are often accused of or mistaken for being crazy.
For example, when the famous inventor Thomas Edison
was trying to invent an incandescent light,
light bulb, people thought he was crazy,
especially after having failed 10,000 attempts.
We all know that he was successful in the end.
Another example, when Wright brothers, Orville
and Wilbur, dreamt of flying and were
building airplanes, people thought they were crazy.
And they-- and there are many others who dreamt
of being-- of doing something big, something different.
Perhaps we have been told by someone that what we aspire
to do or become cannot be done. The pioneers did one thing
different: they defied the conventional norm.
Despite being called or dismissed as being crazy,
and as a result, ended up changing the world.
So what ground-breaking and earth-shattering thing
is Jesus trying to do here? Jesus, who not only possessed
powers, but used them for others in a self-giving,
self-sacrificing and selfless way, showed us what love
really is. It is this kind of unconditional
love with which-- which has power to change
people's lives, that Jesus was asking us to love.
A few months ago, I had the opportunity to walk a pilgrim
way of Saint James, also known as the Camino to Santiago
de Compostela in Spain. More than 1/4 of a million
people make the pilgrim journey each year.
During the camino, some pilgrims get injured on the way,
sometimes blisters, muscle aches, allergies, etcetera.
Thankfully, there are supermarkets and pharmacies on
the way to help the pilgrims get medical attention and
medical supplies they need. The only trouble, however,
is with their siesta or nap culture, pharmacies, shops,
and pretty much everything, shuts down in the afternoon.
Help is available but in a limited way.
And this is just the way things are.
We were taught that looking after ourselves and our own
family is and should be our number one priority.
However, there are times when the needs of others demand
sacrifice on our part. Jesus could have turned people
away and told people to come back the next day
as it was supper time, but neglecting his own physical
needs, Jesus went out of his way to share his gift of healing
with those who came to him because that is what love is.
Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus told Peter to tend his
sheep, feed his lamb, and love the sheep entrusted
to his care. Isn't it true that if you love,
you will make sacrifices and serve those we love?
Jesus is asking us to love as he does in a self-sacrificing,
selfless way all days at any time of the day.
Further reflection of the Gospel made me realize just how many
things we do not understand about God,
or more precisely, how God's way of love makes us
nervous and uncomfortable. When Jesus said if he had
100 sheep and lost just one, he would leave the 99
and search for the one that was lost.
When Jesus saw the rich filling the treasury with
their wealth while the poor widow put in a small copper
coin worth a penny, Jesus said the poor widow has
put in more than the rich. When Jesus told the parable
about a landowner who went to hire labourers at different
hours of the day, but at the end of the day, would pay
everyone an equal wage, we do not understand it
because it is not rationale. It defies our logic, economics
and mathematics. Jesus would have made a terrible
mathematician or a horrible banker.
God can be irrational because love is irrational.
God loves us irrationally without counting the cost.
It brings me much comfort and security knowing that
when I'm lost, when I am the only one lost, even if it's
due to my own fault, Jesus would still come search for me--
searching for me, in order to rescue me from the danger which
I am responsible for. It brings me joy knowing what
little I can do, God values and appreciates my little and
insignificant contribution. It brings me much joy and
happiness knowing that everyone, no matter what stage
of life they're in, there is no such thing as being too late.
The only thing that awaits us, that if you accept God's mercy,
is the heavenly reward. Jesus was accused of being out
of his mind for not thinking like us, for not doing things
like us, not loving like us. And I'm glad that he is
different than us. When I was in the seminary,
a priest who came to direct a retreat told us,
the more accurate translation of today's first reading,
reading the account of original sin, 'where are you' would be
'where do you stand?' It implies where we stand in
relation to and in relationship with God.
Are we with or against God? Jesus makes us clear at the end
of this Sunday's Gospel by saying that everyone who does
the will of the Father is a family of God.
Where do we stand? Are we with God?
Do we seek to do God's work? Now, Jesus who came to heal us
from the wounds, the division our sins bring, help us do
God's work and continue with the church's mission
in order that we may become instruments of healing
and unity and help build God's kingdom.
May Jesus empower and strengthen us every day so that we may
always be faithful to the way of the Father.
(Silence) >> All: I believe in God, the
Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus
Christ, his only son, our lord, who was conceived
by the Holy Spirit, born of the *** Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died,
and was buried. He descended into hell.
On the third day, he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God,
the Father Almighty. From there, he will come to
judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting, amen. >> Filled with the spirit,
let us present our prayers to the Father.
>> That all people come to know the Risen Lord,
we pray to the Lord. >> Lord, hear our prayer.
>> For all who have hurt us, that we may always be forgiven,
we pray to the Lord. >> Lord, hear our prayer.
>> For all women and men, that they may come to know
the presence and the goodness of the one lord in their lives,
we pray to the Lord. >> Lord, hear our prayer.
>> For the sick and the infirm separated from their parish
communities, who join us today that this mass,
celebrated for them, will bring comfort and joy, we pray
to the Lord. >> Lord, hear our prayer.
>> Let us take a few moments and offer our own petitions.
(Silence) We pray to the Lord.
>> Lord, hear our prayer. >> Loving Father, we pray
that Jesus may become the centre of our lives, now and forever.
We make this prayer in the name of Jesus who lives and reigns
forever and ever. >> Both: Amen.
>> Having listened to God's word, let us now celebrate his
supper in joy and thanksgiving. (Footsteps)
(Silence) Blessed are you, Lord God of
all creation, for through your goodness, we receive
the bread we offer you. Fruit of the Earth and work of
human hands, it will become for us, the bread of life.
>> Both: Blessed be God forever. (Silence)
(Silence continues) (Silence)
(Silence) >> Blessed are you, Lord God of
all creation, for through your goodness, we receive
the wine we offer you. Fruit of the vine and work of
human hands, it will become our spiritual drink.
>> Both: Blessed be God forever. (Silence)
(Silence continues) >> Pray, brothers and sisters,
that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God,
the Almighty Father. >> May the Lord accept the
sacrifice at your hands for the praise and the glory of his name
for our good and the good of all his holy church.
>> Look kindly upon our service, O Lord, we pray, that
what we offer may be an acceptable oblation to you
and lead us to grow in charity, through Christ our lord.
>> Both: Amen. >> The Lord be with you.
>> And with your spirit. >> Lift up your hearts.
>> We lift them up to the Lord. >> Let us give thanks to
the Lord, our god. >> It is right and just.
>> It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation
always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, Holy Father,
Almighty and Eternal God. For you so loved the world that
in your mercy, you sent us the Redeemer to live like us in all
things but sin so that you might love in us what you loved in
your son by whose obedience we have been restored to those
gifts of yours that, by sinning, we had lost in disobedience.
And so, Lord, with all the angels and saints, we too give
you thanks, as in exaltation we acclaim:
>> All: Holy, holy, holy Lord, god of hosts,
heaven and Earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
>> You are indeed holy, O Lord, the fount of all holiness.
Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down
your spirit upon them like the dew fall so that they may become
for us the body and blood of our lord, Jesus Christ.
At the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his
passion, he took bread and, giving thanks, broke it and gave
it to his disciples saying, "Take this, all of you, and eat
of it, for this is my body, which will be given up for you."
(Silence) (Silence continues)
In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice,
and once more giving thanks, he gave it to his disciples,
saying, "Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is
the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal
covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for
the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me."
(Silence) (Silence continues)
The mystery of faith. >> All: When we eat this bread
and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, O Lord,
until you come again. >> Therefore, as we celebrate
the memorial of his death and resurrection, we offer you,
Lord, the bread of life and the chalice of salvation, giving
thanks that you have held us worthy to be in your presence
and minister to you. Humbly, we pray that partaking
of the body and blood of Christ, we may be gathered into one by
the Holy Spirit. Remember, Lord, your church
spread throughout the world and bring her to the fullness of
charity together with Frances our pope and Thomas our bishop
and all the clergy. Remember also our brothers and
sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection
and all who have died in your mercy.
Welcome them into the light of your face.
Have mercy on us all, we pray, that with the blessed ***
Mary, mother of God, with blessed Joseph, her spouse, with
the blessed apostles and all the saints who have pleased you
throughout the ages, we may merit to be co-heirs to eternal
life and may praise and glorify you through your son,
Jesus Christ. Through him and with him and in
him, O God, Almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all glory and honour is yours forever and ever.
>> Both: Amen. (Silence)
(Clears throat) >> With the Saviour's command
and divine teaching, we dare to say...
>> All: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is
in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us
from evil. >> Deliver us, Lord, we pray,
from every evil. Graciously grant peace in our
days, that by the help of your mercy, we may be always free
from sin and safe from all distress as we await the blessed
hope and the coming of our saviour, Jesus Christ.
>> For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and forever. >> Lord Jesus Christ, who said
to your apostles, "Peace I leave you, my peace I give you," look
not on our sins but on the faith of your church and graciously
grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will who
live and reign forever and ever. >> Both: Amen.
>> The peace of the lord be with you always.
>> Both: And with your spirit. >> Let us think of someone
you are not at peace with. Let us absolve them.
(Page flutters) Lamb of God...
>> All: ...you take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take
away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,
grant us peace. (Silence)
(Silence continues) (Silence)
>> Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who takes away
the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to
the supper of the lamb. >> All: Lord, I am not worthy
you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and
my soul shall be healed.
(Melodic guitar music)
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
>> Let us pray. May your healing work,
O Lord, for, yes, we pray from doing evil and lead us to
do what is right through Christ our lord.
>> Amen. >> The Lord be with you.
>> And with your spirit. >> May almighty God bless you,
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
>> Both: Amen. >> Go in peace to find God
by your love. >> Both: Thanks be to God.
♪ Hallelujah ♪
♪ Go to the world ♪
♪ Go as the ones I sent ♪
>> Good morning and thank you
for celebrating with us on this Sunday morning.
A special word of thanks to Father Peter Choi.
Father Choi is pastor of St. Andre Bessette parish
in Maple, Ontario.
I want to thank you as well
for your financial support that makes the mass
possible every Sunday morning. It means a great deal to us and
when I'm making up the budget. So, until next week at
this time, rest assured of our prayers and God bless.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪